Buttonhole-working attachment for sewing-machines.



A 1:'. SPAULDING. BUTToNHoLB WORKING ATTNGHMNNT PON SEWING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED 00T. 10, 1910.

Patented Aug. 8, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

w/TN ESSfs CULUMB'A PLANDGIIAPH CU.. WASHINGTON. D. C.

F. SPAULDING. BUTTONHOLB WORKING ATTACHMENT PoR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 10, 1910.A

Patented Aug. 8,1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

319i w @n 1 Ex OY M Nm Q @mw/ww Nam W/ MESSE@ CDLUMBIA PLANDGHAPH co.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

ltliFD STATES FATENT FFQF.

FRANKLIN SPAULDING, OF GALVA, LLINOIS, ASSIGNOR GF ONE-THIRD T0 ERNEST L. BENSON AND ONE-THIRD T0 JAMES V7. HOLMES, OF GALVA, ILLINGIS.

BUTTONHGLE-VJRKING ATTACEMENT FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

inc-aies.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, FRaNnLrN SrAmiDiNG, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Galva, in the county of Henry and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Buttonhole-lorking Attachment for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means attachable to and removable from practically any of the various types of sewing machines, by the enniloyment of which buttonholes may be rapidly and neatly worked without guidance of the material by the operator.

it will be manifest that various modifications and changes in the features of construction, in the combinations of parts, and in the arrangement and disposition of the elements for coaction, may be made Without departing materially from the essential scope of the invention.

l am aware that devices of this nature are in use, with varying degrees of success, but all such as have come under my observation have some one or more objectionable features.

The principal object of my invention is, therefore, to comprehensively and generally improve the construction, whereby more efiiciency, greater capacity, and superior results will accrue.

Concisely stated, other objects of the invention are: to so construct and actuate the mechanism that the stitches at the end portions of the buttonhole, instead of being piled (or worked into and over each other) whereby a thick, unsightly end is produced, as is the result or effect of the employmentof all prior machines of this nature of which I am aware, will be uniform, and the stitches regular and true.

The foregoing recited object I accomplish by providing an accelerator, whereby the action in moving the cloth from one side of the buttonhole to the other, at each eX- treme of the longitudinal portion thereof, when the movement is on centers, is hastened by automatically lengthening the stitch, (regulation of the stitch otherwise being a separate adiustment common to most all sewing machine attachments,) and whereby the action, when off centers, automatically reassumes its ordinary or normal adjustment as imparted to it by the stitchregulator.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 10, 1910.

Patented Aue, 8, 1911i.

semi No. 585,310.

A further object is to provide novel means whereby the length of the buttonh ole may be predetermined with certainty and accuracy.

A further object is to dispense with the use of clutch-plate or the like having a pivotaperture in which is arranged a pivot of materially less area than said aperture, whereby the action is rendered uncertain and ineffective.

To provide novel primaryactuating means, comprising a toothed lever and a segment plate, is another object of the invention.

To provide a simple, effective, and compact friction clutch for imparting movement to certain parts or elements of my improvements constitutes still another object.

To provide a novel arrangement of cams for imparting hereinafter specified movements to the cloth-feeding and directing means is still another object.

That the mechanism constituting the above recited means be durable, strong, simple, and not liable to disarrangement nor disability, is a prime requisite, and to provide such means for carrying out these ends constitutes another object.

Minor objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out.

To the attainment of the foregoing ends the invention consists in the features of construction and modifications thereof, and in the combinations of parts and arrangement and disposition of the elements for co-action, the scope of which will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Coming now to a description of the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention as embodied in the best way now known to me, and in which the same reference numeral indicates the same part in the different figures Figure l is a top plan in which a portion of the movement or operation is illustrated by dotted lines; Fig. 2, a bottom plan; Fig. 3, an elevation, seen from that edge which I shall herein designate as the front, Fig. 4L, a fragment detail, a bottom plan illustrating one of the movements; Fig. 5, an enlarged. detail, an inverted plan 0f the clutch mechanism; and Fig. 6, an enlarged sectional detail in the line 6 6 in Fig. 5.

Prefatorily it may be stated that in operating my device the throat-plate and feeddog are covered by a suitable plate, thereby allowing freedom of movement to the feeddog While not permitting it to interfere With the fabric being operated upon, the latter moving unobstructedly over the Work-plate and beneath my attachment, and being guided by the serrated cloth-feeder in an evident manner.

Q represents a base or supporting-plate and is best shown at Figs. 1 and 2. Secured thereto and projecting vertically therefrom a clamp or yoke 3, the position of which is selective in order that the attachment may be used with machines differentfrom the one shown and of various constructions. It is apertured for the reception of a thumbscreW 4 whereby it may be secured to the presser-bar of the machine, the presser-foot having first been removed. The base-plate supports at its rear portion a standard 5 which carries at its free end a pivot-pin 6 Whereon a bell-crank lever 7 is mounted, the power-arm 8 of which lever is bifurcated and adapted for actuation by the needle-bar-screW of the machine, Which screw it straddles, While the Weight-arm t) is provided with teeth or cogs 10 which engage those of a horizontally disposed segment plate 11 loosely mounted on a stud 12 which carries an oscillator-cam 13 (Fig. 4;) presently described. The parts of the machine hereinbefore referred to may be of any ordinary construction and need not be herein described; neither need they be illustrated. Fixed on the upper end of said stud is a ratchet-Wheel 13aL adapted for actuation by a pawl 14 pivoted to the segment and held in operative position by a spring 15.

Fulcrumed at 1G to the base-plate is a stitch-regulating and adjusting lever 17, the tail of which is turned to provide an eye 13 into which is threaded an adjusting-screuY The point Q0 of the Weight arm of the lever 17 takes against the-tail-piece of the angularly fashioned clutch-lever 21, the front portion of which is refiexed to form a clip 2Q which straddles a friction-loop 23 constituting one member of a frictionelutch. The clip and loop have pivotal connection by means of a pin 24., see Figs. 5 and 6.

2G indicates a hub provided With an annular peripheral groove 27 and With a constricted louer central portion 28 on which is fixed a switch-cam 29, (more fully presently describeth) and an upper constricted portion 3() carrying a disk 31 provided With an eccentrically disposed threaded recess or aperture 3Q for a nirposehereinafter described.

is a projection from the loop 23, and is a resistance spring the respective end portions of which are engaged tl'iereivith and 1with a pin rising from the base-plate. rFhe function of the spring 35 is the common one of drawing the loop or ring 23 from operative engagement With the grooved hub.

A link 36 is engaged by a pivot-screw 37 at one of its ends with the recess 32 and its distal end is similarly connected by a pivotscreW 33 with the projection 39 of a slotted rocker or adjusting-lever 10 of the second order, the bent end of Which lever has pivotal connection at 41 With the base-plate.

4-2 denotes an equalizer or accelerator pivoted at 43 to the base-plate and provided with an extension 44 to which is pivoted at 45 one end of a link GO, the other end of Which has pivotal connection With the rocker 4 0 near its bend. lhile 1 have shown in the principal figures a substantially triangular accelerator-plate proifided with a projection 416 and valleys ft?, it will be manifest that the general idea of my invention comprchends a much broader and diversified scope. j

Reference is now to be had more particularly to Figs. 2 and 4t. 118 repjcsents a feeder-plate provided With a longitudinal slot 49. At its outer end said plate has an enlarged transversely arranged head 51 provided With a slot 52. rl'he stem of a thumbscrewv 53 passes loosely through the slots in the rocker f1() and in the head 51, for a purpose presently related. The front end of the plate 18 is provided with fingers 5t beneath Which is fixed a cloth-feeder struck up from an oblong sheet of metal and provided With a central opening 55 Within which the needle has play. Both the eX- ternal portion thereof and the Walls of the slotare continuously serrated. whereby the cloth Will be firmly and unyieldingly held, no matter what the direction of the feederplate and feeder may be. The cams 13 and 29 are retained in operativ-e positionsv Within the slot 19 by means of a binding-plate secured to the lower face of the base-plate by screvvs 58, 59.

I now proceed to the description of the operation. Assume the parts to be in the relative position shown by full lines at Fig. 1. In this position the traveler or feederplate has traversed approximately one-half of its extreme path of movement and the needle is plying along the central portion of one of the sides of the butt-onhole being created. As the lever 7 is successionally actuated as hereinbefore described, the teeth thereof Will impart reciprocatingrotary movements to the segmentand thereby to the pawl. which, drawing With it the ratchet-Wheel in its counter-clock-hand movement` Will communicate like movement to the stud 12 which will in like manner impart intermittent rotary movements to the cam 13, and these movements will be converted into lateral oscillations of the feederplate and feeder to carry said plate into alternating contacts with the point of the adj usting screw, by which the distance between stitches is regulated as follows. Said cam throws the edge of the feeder-plate into successional contacts with the point of said screw at each impulse of said plate in the direction of said screw, and the point of the lever 17 will take against the tail-piece of the clutch-lever 21, the clip-end of which will cast forwardly the friction-loop 23 which will thereby engage the peripherally grooved portion of the hub 26 and throw it a minute part-rotation. Simultaneously therewith and thereby the link 36 will receive a forward impulse to impart movement to the rocker l() and thereby through the instrumentality of the thumb-screw 58 impart longitudinal intermittent movement to the head 51. The same movement of the rocker will impart step-by-step movement in an evident manner to the link 60 and thereby to the accelerator 4t2. rlhese movements being successionally continued in a constant ratio, t-he parts will at the proper time assume the relative positions shown by dotted lines in the same figure, in which they are shown as occupying their positions of greatest traverse. ln this position the switch-cam is midway between the longitudinal sections or side portions of the buttonhole, and as its rotary movement is continued it brings the feeder-plate and feeder into position to guide or directthe fabric along one longitudinal section of the buttonhole in process of formation, it being evident that when its cam-sides are traversing the respective walls of the slot, the feederplate will at each extremity of its movement be turned or switched across. In the dotted-line posit-ion above referred to,which I have hereinbefore referred to as on center the pendent point of the clutch-lever is lying in one of the valleys 47 of the accelerator, thus permitting said lever to take the full sweep of the lever 17 and thereby cause the distance between stitches to be automatically enlarged or augmented. It will be clear that the same eect will occur at the opposite end of the buttonhole when the motion is on center. As the link 60 throws the accelerator-plate extension 44 to the left (from the position shown by dotted lines at Fig. 1) the point 16S-which is the arc of a circle of which the pin 45 is the center coming into contact with the pendent point of the clutch-lever, will shorten the stroke or throw thereof and impart a shorter stroke to the link 36, whereby the resultant movements of the parts actuated thereby will be consequently lessened and the distance between stitches will again be the normal one.

That the stitch-regulator is actuated in one direction by the oscillations of the feeder-plate has hereinbefore been stated. It will be noted that each alternate throw of the feeder-plate causes one bight or stitch to be formed. When it is desired to decrease the distance between stitches the screw 19 is to be turned to the left (or backward) to increase the distance between it and the feeder-plate. The extent of movement of said plate being determined by the cam 13, it. will be evident that as the screw is farther removed from said plate, the former will receive less motion or extent of travel and consequently impart less throw to the clutch lever, thereby causing the feeder-plate to have a reduced longitudinal step-by-step movement at each impulse of the link 36. Bringing the said screw into closer relationship to the feeder-plate will bring about a reverse movement and result.

To regulate the length of the buttonhole the thumb-screw 53 is adjusted toward the free end of the rocker to permit the head 51 to have greater longitudinal movement to thereby carry the feeder 55 a greater distance to form a buttonhole of greater length. A contrary adjustment of said screw will effect a contrary and evident result.

The ends of the buttonholes formed by the employment of my improvements are smooth, even, and of neat and attractive appearance. The distance between the attachment and the work-plate being variable at the will of the operator, by means of the clamp-yoke, permits fabrics varying greatly in thickness to be successfully operated upon. The gear causes a positive and unfailing action, and the clutch being likewise positive in its action, as well as simple, compact and strong, renders the action certain. The oscillating cam and t-he switch-cam are so timed with reference to each other, and so held within the slot 49 (which may be of equal width throughout its length if preferred,) that no mistakes by reason of their failure to properly act can occur. y

Having thus set forth the preferred construction, having stated the purposes and objects and advantages, and having described the operation of the means shown, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent the following, to-wit:-

1. In combination, a cloth-feeder-plate, a feeder carried thereby, a cam for imparting oscillatory movements to said plate, a stitchregulator actuatable by said plate, a clutchmember actuatable by said regulator, a second clutch-member in engagement with the one first recited, a link pivoted eccentric'ally to the last recited clutch-member, a rocker pivotally engaged by said link, means for pivotally connecting said rocker and feederplate, and means adapted to switch said plate across the buttonhole in process of forn regulator actuatable by said plate, a clutchmember actuatable by said regulator, a second clutch-member in engagement with the one lirst recited, a link pivoted eccentrically to the last recited clutch-member, arocker pivotally engaged by said link, means for pivotally connecting said rocker and the feeder plate, means adapted to switch said plate across the ends of the buttonhole in process of formation, and means actuated by said rocker for regulating the extent of movement of said clutch.

3. In combination, a cloth-feeder-plate, a feeder carried thereby, means for imparting oscillatory movements to said plate, a stitchregulator act-uatable by said plate, a clutchmember actuatable by said regulator, a second clutch-member in engagement with the one recited, a link pivoted eccentrically to the last recited. clutch member, a rocker pivotally engaged by said link, means adjustably connecting said rocker and feeder-plate whereby the length of travel of the latter may be predetermined, and means adapted to switch said plate across the ends of the buttonhole in process of formation.

et. In combination, a cloth-feeder-plate, a feeder carried thereby, a cam for imparting oscillatory movements to said plate, a stitchregulating lever actuatable by said plate, means for varying the relationship between said lever and plate, a clutch-member actuatable by said lever, a second clutch-member in engagement with the one first recited, a link pivoted eccentrically to the last recited clutch-member, a rocker pivotally engaged by said link, means for adjustably connecting said rocker and plate, means adapted to switch said plate across the ends of the buttonhole in process of formation, and means interposed between said rocker and the first recited clutch-member whereby the extent of movement of the clutch is periodically changed.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for 5. In combination, a cloth-feeder-plate having a longitudinal and a transverse slot, an oscillatory cam disposed within said longit-udinal slot and adapted to impart vibratory movements to said plate, a stitchregulator actuatable by said plate, a clutchmember actuatable by said regulator, a second clutch-member actuatable by the one first recited, means for returning the clutchmembers to their operative positions after each of said actuations, a link pivoted eccentrically to the last recited clutch-member, a slotted rocker in pivotal engagement with said link, adjusting means disposed in the slot in said rocker and in the transverse slot in said plate, an accelerator having variable contacts with the first recited clutchmember, a link interposed between said accelerator and rocker, and a switch-cam mounted in the longitudinal slot in said plate and actuatable by the second recited clutch member.

6. In combination, a cloth-feeder-plate, means for imparting reciprocating longitudinal movements thereto, a stud disposed above and extending through said plate, ay cam fixed on said stud and actuatable. within a slot in said plate to impart vibratory movements thereto, a toothed segment loosely mounted on said stud, a. ratchet-wheel fixed on the upper end of said stud, a pawl pivoted on the segment, means for throwing it into engagement with the teeth of said wheel, and a toothed lever adapted for engagement with and to actuate said segment.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I hereunto subscribe my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANKLIN sra ULDING.

Witnesses R. B. Dickson, IVILLIAM JOHNSTON.

ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, ID. C. 

